THE BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

No. 5 May, 1953 Vol. LXXIII

CORRESPONDENCE

CHESS IN THE LAND OF SUNSHINE

To the Editor, "British Chess Magazine."

Dear Sir, - You and readers of the "B.C.M." have no doubt read
about the anonymous donor giving 30,000 dollars to erect an enclosure in
New York Central Park to enable chess fans to play regardless of rain and
cold. A leading New York newspaper devoted a long column, printing the photo
of the "home of chess," and as a clever contrast a peculiar
pair, a young negro boy playing an old man whose face somehow indicated
that there was nothing else left to him, but chess. Whether it was on
purpose or accidental, it conveyed to me the idea of the universality of
chess beyond all boundaries, irrespective of countries. I have previously
had the opportunity of observing chess-players of all nationalities, when
I was taking part in the chess olympics at Prague, 1931, Warsaw, 1935,
and Munich, 1936. It was a still greater thrill when I undertook to visit
the country of sunshine as California might be called.

I believe for many of us (like myself) California has a unique appeal.
To the romantic mind Los Angeles conveys the movie stars with its
"Hollywood," which is a district incorporated into the town.
The soul of Hollywood chess is Herman Steiner, who runs the Hollywood
Chess Club. At the back of his house there is a fine building which
accommodates the club. The chess room itself is made spectacular by the
photos hanging round the walls. There we see most of the famous actors
and actresses photographed "playing chess." Though I may say on
good authority that except for Humphrey Bogart none of them excels at the
game, but by the expressions on their faces and their posture they convey
to the onlooker the "real chess fan." Perhaps chess masters
should not only try to learn chess, but learn to act in order to be more
successful.

The club is made up of a mixture of all nationalities. I once heard
Alistair Cooke say in his "American Commentary" that most of the
newcomers to Los Angeles came with the secret idea of settling down in
the "movies," but were stranded in all kinds of curious
professions. Though he mentioned some peculiar ways of making one's
living, he did not mention "chess professional." And if Herman
Steiner is called one even by himself, this does not convey the right
notion. The work he puts in to keep up the activity of the club, the
difficulties that must be overcome to organize mere1y a simultaneous
display or a tournament cannot be understood by one who is not familiar
with the structure of the city. It is spread out, with inadequate bus
service. It is not adequate because it is not a commercial success,
since nearly everybody in Los Angeles seems to have a car. I cannot
forget the feeling of loneliness when I walked in the street under
the blazing sun to find myself by myself, and only the passing cars
indicated that the town was not "dead." Because an American,
even if he wants to buy a stamp ten yards away, uses his car. But
possessing a car is not considered a sign of wealth, and in the
evenings the quiet residential district where Steiner lives is swarming
with cars.

When I arrived in Los Angeles the County Championship was in progress
and I was surprised by the high level of chess, since, like many
Europeans, I thought that the Americans have no flair for the game.
Their enthusiasm is unbounded. I once overheard Steiner reproaching a
player for having turned up late when his opponent had to come 100 miles
away. The conquest of distances is here the main problem. I used to
think in European distances and only later realized that the State of
California is one thousand miles long, just one state and not the
biggest one. To organize a tournament or even a simultaneous display
means drawing players from a radius of 150 miles. When one considers that
one has to keep up a car and a club as well, one will understand that
besides being an idealist, one has to be a rich man to be a chess
professional in Los Angeles.

Even the smaller towns have chess clubs, and it was in Long Beach,
twenty-two miles from Los Angeles, where I gave my first simultaneous
exhibition. I was going down with the idea of having a
"walk over" but I met with stiff opposition. This small town of
60,000 inhabitants has a fine club. It has a room provided for it by the
municipal authorities. This it shares with the draught players.

Women's chess is well represented in Los Angeles. Mrs. Stevenson
(formerly Sonja Graf) is here, though not active. Also here is Mrs.
Nancy Roos, former Belgian Lady Chess Champion. The most interesting
woman player is Mrs. G. Piatigorsky, who is of French extraction.
She took up chess only one-and-half years ago and her grasp of the
game is great. A pupil of Steiner, she embarrasses one with her questions
on intricate opening problems, and I had to study the Richter Attack to
be able to answer them. The game below, played in the County Championship,
will give a good example of her intrinsic play.

The continuous sunshine deceives one's sense about time, and seasons seem
to be non-existent. Except for the falling leaves and the cool evenings,
one would hardly perceive that it was winter.

Only a short distance away, 500 miles means a casual trip in America, is
San Francisco. The ten-hours' travel on the coast is most impressive, the
train winding along its way in the mountains, and forming a semicircle so
that one can see the two locomotives and the tail of the train at the same
time. On the left the Pacific Ocean glitters. San Francisco itself is one
of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. One may imagine how
impressive is an immense one-span bridge painted red, under which
ocean-going steamers pass by and in the distance the islands and mountains
of California showing up. This is the famous
"Golden Gate Bridge." San Francisco is the most cosmopolitan
city in the USA, one out of six is said to be foreign born. The largest
chess club is situated in the "Mechanics' Institute." (An
English idea; it was once established as a king of working men's club,
I remember having visited one in Nottingham.) It is one of the oldest
if not the oldest chess club in the USA, supposed to have been founded
in 1855. Here chess fans battle from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m.-to see twenty
to thirty players is not unusual. They run a perpetual tournament with a
kind of ladder system, but with an involved point system, to make up for
the differences in the player's strength. The main organizers in Northern
California are Guthrie McClain, Neil T.Austin, and Dr. H. J. Ralston. The
latter is editor of the California Chess Reporter, the official organ of
the California State Chess Organization. George Koltanowski has set up an
organization of his own called "The Chess Friends of Northern
California Inc.," a corporation for promoting chess.

The Spanish influence is still noticeable in Northern California,
particularly in the names of towns like San Jose, Modesto, and Sacramento.
On Sunday afternoon, going by car to Modesto (about sixty miles from San
Francisco), I was able to watch the final of the Central California Chess
League matches, where about eighty players participated.

Though there are many chess clubs one curious thing should be mentioned:
open air chess. In MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles, and in Golden Gate
Park, in San Francisco, there is great chess activity until sunset.
Unlike players in New York, they have no enclosure.

I expected to have lots of rain when I arrived in San Francisco but a
spell of six weeks sunshine waited for me. They say it is unprecedented
in the history of the city. By the time this letter is printed I hope all
my English friends, too, will be enjoying sunshine more than it is
appreciated here, because in England they do not take it for granted.